National News

Watch: Olympic curling's cheating scandal explained, and sliding sports' concussion risk

NPR | By Pien Huang,

Published February 5, 2026 at 5:15 PM PST

Updated February 17, 2026 at 10:44 AM PST

The cheating and cussing scandal that rocked the curling world. A report on the sustainability — or lack thereof — at the 2026 Olympic Games. Plus, there's a little-known head injury risk with sliding sports, including skeleton, bobsleigh and luge. Join host A Martínez, along with NPR's Pien Huang, Ruth Sherlock and Emily Kwong, for all that and more. NPR is bringing you the latest from the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina with Up First Winter Games.

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Pien Huang

Pien Huang is a health reporter on the Science desk. She was NPR's first Reflect America Fellow, working with shows, desks and podcasts to bring more diverse voices to air and online.

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Ruth Sherlock

Ruth Sherlock is an International Correspondent with National Public Radio. She's based in Beirut and reports on Syria and other countries around the Middle East. She was previously the United States Editor for the Daily Telegraph, covering the 2016 US election. Before moving to the US in the spring of 2015, she was the Telegraph's Middle East correspondent.

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Emily Kwong

Emily Kwong (she/her) is the reporter for NPR's daily science podcast, Short Wave. The podcast explores new discoveries, everyday mysteries and the science behind the headlines — all in about 10 minutes, Monday through Friday.

See stories by Emily Kwong